


Low Light

by EllsterSMASH



Series: Dark Skies [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, but only a hint of smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:13:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12515632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllsterSMASH/pseuds/EllsterSMASH
Summary: Prompt from kittlesandbugs: "lazy morning kisses"[set after Saren's attack on the Citadel]





	Low Light

A set of mellow tones, frustrating only in its familiarity, pulls Kaidan from his sleep.

Morning, then. Or close enough to it that he should go before the shift changes and the halls get busy. Most of the crew members seem to turn a blind eye to his “activities” with their Commander, but it hardly seems prudent to wave it in their faces.

She is still asleep, curled around her pillow with her head on his arm. The displays are all on night settings, of course, but enough light remains to cast a cool glow on her skin.  _She looks her age_ , he thinks,  _for once_. He forgets how young she is, this bold, brave, brilliant woman who has carried the galaxy on her shoulders. Considering their victory against Sovereign, if anyone is strong enough, it’s probably her. But for the moment, at least, her stubborn edges and the burdens of command have been smoothed away by sleep, and she is all gentle curves and quiet breaths.

Though she sleeps just as lightly, his alarm doesn’t usually wake her. Someday, maybe, when she hears it as often as he does.  _Someday_. The idea swirls around in his belly, warm and bright and uncomfortably hopeful for such a new thing.

As if she can sense her own presence in his thoughts, she stirs. “Kaidan?” she mumbles.

Her eyes stay closed, so he can’t quite tell if she’s awake, but lets himself touch anyway. He brushes the hair from the back of her neck and presses his lips to the warm, soft skin there. “Yeah, Shepard.”

She shivers and hums. “That tickles.” He can’t see her smile, tucked like this between her shoulders, but he can hear it in her voice. And he can picture it.

 _Beautiful_.

He remembers the first time she smiled at him, after Eden Prime. Not the first one he saw, but the first one she gave him. Like a pup, he’d been so distracted that he had completely forgotten the story he’d been telling about Jenkins. It had been worth it, though.

Her ass pressing back against him grounds his thoughts firmly in the present. “Don’t go,” she whispers.

Kaidan chuckles. He hardly needs the encouragement. “Just like that?” His free hand grips hard at her hip, both responding to her offer and maintaining some control.

“Mm-hmm.”

He angles her face toward him with his arm and kisses the sweet spot just behind her jaw. Then he runs his nose along her ear and that sharp intake of breath as she clenches her thighs together is—

 _Beautiful_.

She whines in protest when he pulls back to prop himself up on an elbow, but then he finds her mouth with his and she melts. Sleep-heavy fingers curl into his hair and her body twists beneath his own, her legs working their way around his hips to draw him in closer. His control slips and he thrusts against the heat between her legs, swallowing the moan it evokes from her.

He gives in. To her stubborn edges and quiet breaths and the sounds of her wanting. They make love in the low light, slow and savoring. One minute becomes two, then ten, then thirty. And somewhere along the line, she finally opens her eyes.

Let the crew talk. Let the geth wait. Let the galaxy carry itself for a morning.

Because his  _someday_ is right now, right here, smiling up at him like a sunrise over English Bay.


End file.
